Halloween Movie Countdown – Part 4

I’ve been wanting to see this movie for a short while – and even started to watch it a month or so ago, but fell asleep after just a few minutes and just didn’t bother again. Then, a few nights ago, I noticed it was OnDemand so I popped ‘er on.

This is a horror-ish movie from 1960(?) and is black and white – and in French (with subtitles).

The story is that the main character – Docteur Genessier – maimed his daughter Christiane’s face badly in a car accident. He and his wife/nurse (it’s not made clear which she is, if not both) then conspire to keep her hidden away, telling the authorities that she disappeared. Christiane is kept locked up in a room in the attic of their massive creepy gothic house, forced to wear a mask that can only be classified as creepier than Michael Myers/Jason Voorhies/Ghost Face all mixed together. It’s not meant to be sinister, but it sure as heck is. Christiane even declares that her mask frightens her.

Tell me this isn’t creepy!

All the while, Doc and Wifey continue to kidnap young girls who bear similar looks to Christiane and perform basement surgeries on them to try and steal their faces to replace the one Christiane is now missing. Morbid much? However, the surgeries never take…for any of them.

It’s a very odd movie without a lot of dialogue. In fact, there is so much dialogue missing that I found myself skipping over a bunch of it. (I mean, do we really have to watch the Doc walk from one building to the next without any purpose or uttering a word? *skip!*)

The movie had lots of potential and I’m sure that back in good ‘ol 1960 it was probably scary AF. But, in 2017, it sucked. It was slow and boring and the ending was just atrocious. However, the face and the mask will freak you out. I had a hard time putting it out of my head when I hit the sack.